With three students seated on the cushioned chairs of a 65-person charter bus on a recent weekend, the person-to-empty-seat ratio on ASU’s weekend shuttle service roughly resembles a Nickleback concert.
In August 2014, per student complaint and petition, Parking and Transit Services added weekend intercampus shuttle services to the mix.
The idea was later proposed as a sort of rider to the ASU athletic fee bill — an added perk — and would be allowed to receive funds from the reinvested $10 million generated by the $75 per semester fee.
The price of the shuttles was what really raised the skepticism of assistant director of commuter services J.C. Porter.
Just the weekend shuttles, which run on an hour-by-hour basis, cost the university more than $300,000 in the past year — funded by utilities like parking passes. The average cost for a one-way rider on any of these weekend shuttles is $18.40 per rider.
To be even more precise, the Maroon shuttle has far more frequent use on the weekends, costing $15.09 per rider. However, the Gold shuttle costs ASU an average of $23.57 per rider.
The Maroon shuttle travels between the Tempe campus, Downtown campus and West campus while the Gold shuttle travels between the Tempe campus and Polytechnic campus.
Porter said that the ridership of the weekend shuttle was significantly lower than what PTS expected.
The total ridership of the shuttles from August 2014 to May 2015 was 598,627 people, while weekend ridership in that time was 16,797. That means that the weekday use was nearly 35 times the weekend use.
“I think right now what it is, is we’re using too much equipment for the amount of people using it,” Porter said.
He explained that they were surprised by the lack of weekend riders because they expected more of a need for the transportation.
Porter acknowledged the shuttles as a service that needs to be looked at and revised.
While the numbers are fairly low, he said there are a handful of students who need and use the weekend shuttles regularly that may not be able to afford different means of transportation. He believes the key is to potentially adjust the frequency or types of shuttles provided.
The amount of money spent on the weekend shuttles will be addressed by Undergraduate Student Government Downtown, Ryan Boyd, vice president of policy, said.
Boyd said it’s going to be an issue addressed by USG soon as well.
“It is a difficult situation. It's one that will be mirrored in our own efforts here on Downtown (campus). There was some discussion about changing things up a bit at least on the pricing side in contracts with vendors from PTS,” Boyd said.
Some students, after learning about the amount of money spent, raised concerns about whether the money is being spent unwisely.
“It’s crazy that all this money is going to a service that isn’t being used. I think ASU needs to learn how to prioritize because obviously it isn’t working. And it's costing us, not them," photography sophomore Rylie Clarkson said.
Related Links:
New intercampus shuttle system shows promise
USGD funds downtown grocery shuttle, draws skeptics
Reach the reporter at megan.janetsky@asu.edu or follow @meganjanetsky on Twitter.
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